West v. Stahley

155 Wash. App. 691
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedApril 27, 2010
DocketNo. 37853-1-II
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 155 Wash. App. 691 (West v. Stahley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
West v. Stahley, 155 Wash. App. 691 (Wash. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

Bridgewater, J.

¶1 Arthur West appeals from the dismissal of his complaint challenging an engineering permit that the city of Olympia (City) issued to the Port of Olympia (Port). We hold that the superior court properly dismissed his complaint because he failed to file a Land Use Petition Act1 (LUPA) petition before timely exhausting his administrative remedies and because his other claims were without merit. We affirm.

FACTS

¶2 Weyerhaeuser sought to operate a log yard on property leased from the Port and planned to construct new buildings to serve the log yard. The Port also planned to separately construct utility infrastructure to serve the proposed buildings and other parts of the Port’s terminal.

¶3 In June 2006, before issuing any permits, the City evaluated the expansion and issued a land use approval and a State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA)2 determination of nonsignificance (DNS). Because the City’s DNS failed to examine the impact of the Port’s infrastructure improvements, in December 2006, the hearing examiner rejected the DNS as insufficient

¶4 In April 2007, the Port issued a mitigated determination of nonsignificance (MDNS), which West and Jerry Dierker challenged in a separate action. The superior court transferred their case challenging the Port’s MDNS from Judge Pomeroy to Judge Hicks. Alleging that the transfer was improper, West and Dierker filed an original petition with the Supreme Court.

¶5 With West and Dierker’s MDNS case still pending, the City issued an engineering permit to the Port that allowed it to construct utility infrastructure “at [its] own risk.” Clerk’s Papers at 10. The City issued the engineering permit on September 5, 2007, but entered it into public record on October 9, 2007. West and Dierker had actual knowledge of the engineering permit at least by October 10, 2007.

[695]*695¶6 On October 18, 2007, West and Dierker filed a complaint in superior court that challenged the engineering permit. Among its several claims, West and Dierker alleged that “[i]f the [trial] court should determine that the [engineering permit] was subject to ... LUPA, defendants violated the intent and letter of. . . LUPA.”3 CP at 8. Judge Pomeroy initially heard West and Dierker’s complaint, but, because it involved issues related to their MDNS case, she stayed the complaint pending a resolution of their original petition.

¶7 On October 30,2007,20 days after receiving notice that the City issued the engineering permit, West and Dierker filed an administrative appeal to the hearing examiner. The hearing examiner dismissed the appeal as untimely, citing that West and Dierker did not file it within the 14-day appeal period that the city code required.

¶8 The Supreme Court eventually dismissed West and Dierker’s original petition, and Judge Wickham heard their complaint challenging the engineering permit. Weyerhaeuser intervened and filed a CR 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, arguing that West and Dierker’s complaint was meritless because their sole remedy was under LUPA but they failed to exhaust administrative remedies before bringing a LUPA petition, and because their other claims were unfounded in fact. Judge Wickham dismissed the case, finding that West and Dierker failed to exhaust their administrative remedies, thereby precluding their ability to challenge the permit under LUPA, which was their sole remedy. He also found that their other claims were not founded in law or fact. Only West appeals.

ANALYSIS

I. Properly Dismissed Complaint

¶9 The issue we must decide is whether the trial court erred in dismissing West and Dierker’s complaint. We hold that West and Dierker failed to exhaust their administrative remedies, thus precluding their ability to challenge the [696]*696permit under LUPA.4 As LUPA was the sole means to challenge the permit, the trial court properly dismissed their complaint. We decline to address the other claims that the court dismissed below because West has failed to demonstrate how they had any merit.

¶10 A trial court’s ruling on a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted under CR 12(b)(6) is a question of law that we review de novo. Cutler v. Phillips Petroleum Co., 124 Wn.2d 749, 755, 881 P.2d 216 (1994). A trial court should dismiss a claim under CR 12(b)(6) only if it appears beyond a reasonable doubt that no facts justifying recovery exist. Cutler, 124 Wn.2d at 755. “ ‘Under this rule, a plaintiff’s allegations are presumed to be true’, and ‘a court may consider hypothetical facts not part of the formal record.’ ” Cutler, 124 Wn.2d at 755 (quoting Hoffer v. State, 110 Wn.2d 415, 420, 755 P.2d 781 (1988), aff’d on recons., 113 Wn.2d 148, 776 P.2d 963 (1989)). A trial court should grant CR 12(b)(6) motions “ ‘sparingly and with care’ and ‘only in the unusual case in which plaintiff includes allegations that show on the face of the complaint that there is some insuperable bar to relief.’ ” Cutler, 124 Wn.2d at 755 (quoting Hoffer, 110 Wn.2d at 420).

¶11 LUPA is the exclusive means for judicial review of a local jurisdiction’s “ ‘[l]and use decision.’ ” Former RCW 36.70C.020(1) (1995). To challenge a “land use decision,” however, the petitioner must have standing, which LUPA limits to the following persons:

(1) The applicant and the owner of property to which the land use decision is directed;
(2) Another person aggrieved or adversely affected by the land use decision .... A person is aggrieved or adversely affected within the meaning of this section only when all of the following conditions are present:
(d) The petitioner has exhausted his or her administrative remedies to the extent required by law.

[697]*697RCW 36.70C.060 (emphasis added). Thus, regardless of whether the petitioner is the owner of the property or an aggrieved person, LUPA requires the petitioner to exhaust administrative remedies.

¶12 To obtain a final determination from a local jurisdiction, a LUPA petitioner must necessarily exhaust all available administrative remedies. LUPA defines a “land use decision” as a local jurisdiction’s “final determination by a local jurisdiction’s body or officer with the highest level of authority to make the determination, including those with authority to hear appeals” on, among other things, “[a]n application for a project permit or other governmental approval required by law before real property may be improved, developed, modified, sold, transferred, or used.” Former RCW 36.70C.020(l)(a) (emphasis added); Ward, v. Bd. of Skagit County Comm’rs, 86 Wn. App.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
155 Wash. App. 691, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/west-v-stahley-washctapp-2010.